A Dublin woman has expressed her outrage after her elderly mother-in-law had to wait seven hours to see a doctor.

Sheila Fitzpatrick, who suffers from Alzheimer's, was brought to Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown at around 3.30pm on Saturday after suffering a fall at her nursing home.

The 85-year-old Lucan native hurt her ankle and received a bump to the head.

Her daughter-in-law Eileen, who lives on Mourne Road in Drimnagh, was very upset about the ordeal.

She is appealing for delays at the hospital to be resolved.

She said: “We were told she had to get an X-ray. We were in the sub waiting unit and Sheila was beginning to get agitated so I went to speak to the nurse, who told us that there were six people in front of her in the queue.

“But later on three or four people came in after us and were seen by doctors first. So we then went to the nurse manager who said there were now only three people in front of us.”

Sheila has been suffering with Alzheimer’s for over six years.

Sheila Fitzpatrick

Eileen continued: “My husband Michael arrived straight after finishing work at around 7pm and he was very annoyed and asked the staff what the story was.

“They told him that there were two or three serious patients who needed to be attended to first and that was the reason for the delay.